NTU 2008 Public Forum Discussed Taiwan's Policy on Vagrant Dogs and the Legal and Factual Aspects of Pet Volume Control

"NTU Public Forum" held a panel discussion with the media on February 4th to explore in depth the issues related to stray dogs, including; the legal and factual aspects of pet volume control, 2008 Taiwan policy on vagrant dogs, the medical care for the pets of senior citizens, the medical conditions of animal shelters, etc.

Professor Lih-seng Yeh pointed out that the main purpose of a pet control system is to force pet owners to take the responsibility of taking care of their pets through measures of registration and restraint and, on the other hand, to deter those citizens who lack a sense of responsibility from raising pets randomly. To avoid social problems which may arise in the future, and to implement law enforcement, a sufficient number of animal caretakers should be employed by the government in accordance with the law, he said.

Professor Chang-Young Fei maintained that for a policy on vagrant dogs to become truly meaningful, the number of victimized vagrant dogs must be reduced to the minimum. The source of stray dogs comes mainly from abandonment. Once a dog is abandoned, the dog usually faces a worse destiny than if it were sent to an animal shelter. If the number of abandoned dogs can be efficiently reduced, then the works related to abandoned dogs such as adoption, street feeding, capture by governmental agencies, and euthanasia, etc, can also be greatly reduced, thus resulting in a cut-down of social cost. He maintained that the reduction of the number of abandoned dogs is an all citizens job, one that needs to be promoted and implemented by every aspect of society.